By: Natalie Cooke, News Writer
Dr. Adam Murry is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Calgary. His research focuses on Indigenous employment, substance use, and mental health, among other topics. SFU psychology recently hosted the “Psychological Research in the Context of Reconciliation” event where Murry discussed why psychology research needs to progress in the “context of reconciliation.”
Murry said at the beginning of the seminar: “I didn’t ever mean to get into research. It wasn’t even my plan to get educated.” However, after immersing himself in schooling, he was on a “quest for information.”
Throughout his schooling and research, Murry has seen different forms of research that have not made room for ethical considerations; in his seminar he differentiated a variety of methodologies and expressed the effect of each research method on Indigenous communities.
Murry explained how research has transformed from previous methodologies which did not value the relationship between the researcher and the group being researched. He explained helicopter research and deficit-based research as examples of poor research methods. They both include researchers from outside the community being researched. They typically observe and then evaluate a local community, with little involvement from them. This kind of research continues a historical imbalance in academia, based on exploiting the subject. Both methods neglect to put the community first, and do not work to uplift and support them.
Murry explained the importance of having an “ethical space,” for psychological research where people with different ways of life can come together, and suspend judgement for the sake of listening and understanding. “When you have two different groups with two different cultures that come together, they’re going to have different values and see things through a different lens.”
Murry discussed the emotional toll that some studies can also have on the researcher. “If you were just studying atoms, you would not have to think about poverty, sixties scoop, residential schools, deforestation. That stuff is heavy.” When Murry used to do substance use work, “It hit too close to home.”
Community based participatory research (CBPR) was discussed as a methodology that seeks to prioritize the community, their values, and the land they’re on during research processes. The Arctic Institute of Community-Based Research describes CBPR as “an empowering process through which participants can increase control over their lives by nurturing community strengths and problem-solving abilities.” This is a co-learning process where researchers and participants participate, share excitement, and engage in co-operation.
Murry noted that at every stage in the research “there’s a way to share power or a way to keep power [ . . . ] you can include or exclude the people you are working with.”
To learn about Dr. Murry’s research lab, visit the Indigenous Organizations’ and Communities’ Research Lab website.
